But this building wouldn't be a museum -- it would be a "museum in reverse," according to organizers. It wouldn't just celebrate the past -- it would "envision the future" through "imagination-inspiring events, educational collaborations and design labs."

The center plans programs such as "Entrepreneurship as Citizenship," which it describes as "a redesign of the class trip for the 21st century." It plans to work with school districts on educational programs highlighting the importance of innovators and entrepreneurs to America's future.

"We want the 25 million people who visit Washington, D.C., every year to experience, front and center, the creative dynamism that is at the heart of the American character and that built the American economy,” said Philip Auerswald, a George Mason University associate professor who is the center's founding board chair and author of "The Coming Prosperity: How Entrepreneurs are Transforming the Global Economy."

Auerswald also is co-founder and co-editor of Innovations, a quarterly journal from MIT Press that focuses on entrepreneurial solutions to global challenges. Plus, he's an adviser to the Clinton Global Initiative.

CGI America is one of the center's launch partners, along with the Case Foundation, which was established by AOL co-founder Steve Case and his wife, Jean. Founding partners include Cognizant and Reichmann International.

The center also has a well-connected advisory board, including Vint Cerf, the "Father of the Internet" and now chief Internet evangelist and vice president at Google. Carly Fiorina, former chairman and CEO of Hewlett-Packard also is an adviser, as is Dean Kamen, founder of Deka Research and Development Corp. in New Hampshire.

So the effort has money and brains behind it. But opening a new museum on or near the National Mall is a difficult task. A group of women have been trying to get a National Women's History Museum off the ground for 17 years.

Entrepreneurs, however, aren't afraid of challenges, and they don't listen to people who say it can't be done.

Imagine a day when you can bring your family to a museum that highlights the risk takers, the innovators, the market disruptors that keep the economy vibrant. Who knows, maybe your kid will catch the bug.